A naturalized U. S. citizen was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to receiving military training from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham ( ISIS ) in Syria.
In a Monday press launch, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia explained that 49-year-old Lirim Sylejmani received military training from ISIS and participated in “at least one battle with U. S. led alliance causes” in Syria.
U. S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced Sylejmani to 10 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised pleasure. Monday’s media release noted that Sylejmani pleaded guilty in December to receiving military training from a designated foreign terrorist organization.
” This defendant did spent a decade in jail thinking about the treachery to this state”, U. S. Attorney , Jeanine Ferris Pirro said. ” People thinking that ISIS is the solution to their inquiries, best think again. We will go to any length to source out provocative individuals who want to overthrow the government and hurt its citizens”.
Monday’s media release cited court records that show Sylejmani was trained by ISIS in Syria from November of 2015 through February of 2019.
” In November 2015,  , Sylejmani, a native U. S. citizen living in Kosovo, traveled to Syria with his family to join ISIS. After entering Syria,  , Sylejmani completed his ISIS use method”, the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia stated. ” He adopted the name Abu Sulayman al-Kosovi and trained to be a man with another ISIS volunteers.  , Sylejmani’s military training included education on how to organize and flames an AK-47 weapons, as well as how to use a Fletcher System weapons, M-16 rifle and grenades”.
The U. S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia explained that following 21 days of defense education, Sylejmani was assigned to an ISIS regiment in Iraq, was given” an AK-47, four AK-47 journals, a belt to keep the newspapers and two explosives, and pledged allegiance to ISIS. The U. S. Attorney’s office added that Sylejmani was paid by ISIS for his service.
” In May 2016, the defendant reported for ribat ( guard ) duty on the front line of the Manbij offensive. The plaintiff brought his gun buckle, AK-47 and newspapers to his ribat task,” the press release stated”. During a battle with Coalition Forces he was hit with shrapnel in his legs.”
According to Monday’s press release, Sylejmani and his family were captured by Coalition Forces in February of 2019, and the 49-year-old was transferred to U. S. custody in September of 2020 to face criminal charges.
